Neil Oberman personifies the Conservative party’s hypocrisy on freedom of expression. In service of a genocidal foreign state, Pierre Poilievre’s candidate for the Mount Royal riding has been rampaging against freedom of speech and assembly.
Partly due to Oberman’s intervention, I recently spent five days in jail for social media posts critical of Israel. The case against me began with anti-Palestinian influencer Dahlia Kurtz accusing me of harassment for sometimes snarky and biting political commentary. According to the Crown lawyer, the police investigated Kurtz’s allegations against me in the summer and then closed the file. Subsequently, Oberman sent a letter to the Montreal police on Kurtz’ behalf, which prompted the police to reopen the case. The Conservative party candidate watched my bail hearing, which I won, and likely assisted Kurtz’ complaint from the get-go.
After targeting an author, Kurtz complained about a senator. She sent a formal complaint to the Senate ethics commission against BC Senator Yuen Pau Woo for his social media posts in support of my right to criticize Kurtz and Israel. She also complained to the Barreau du Québec (Quebec bar) about my lawyer, John Philpot, criticizing her. It’s highly unlikely Kurtz would have pursued either of these complaints without the assistance of Oberman or his law firm Spiegel Sohmer.
Kurtz posts in support of neo-Nazi groups and “mass deportations”. She labels Prime Minister Trudeau an antisemite and a supporter of terrorists. She mocks Palestinian children and babies. She barely hides her racism, yet Oberman assists Kurtz’s efforts to suppress free speech.
Over the past fourteen months Oberman has threatened or sued a slew of institutions and individuals opposing genocide. He sought to block UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese from speaking at McGill in November and sent a threatening letter to US journalist Max Blumenthal for writing about author Lauren Wise who was videoed telling a woman she should be “raped and dragged in the streets in front of her kids” for flying a Palestinian flag.
‘Cancel Man’ Oberman has also targeted Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante, police chief Fady Dagher, Concordia student organizers and the Students Society of McGill University. A year ago Oberman won an injunction banning Independent Jewish Voices, Montreal4Palestine, Montreal Alliance4Palestine and the Palestinian Youth Movement from organizing protests at a Jewish community building and synagogue, which faced protests last March during an event with three Israeli soldiers and an Israel real estate fair. Oberman then used the initial (default) decision to expand it to two dozen institutions for six months.
In the highest profile case, ‘Ban Who I Can’ Oberman sought an injunction against the student encampment at McGill university. He sought to ban protests within 100 metres of 154 university buildings, which would have effectively banned demonstrations in large swaths of downtown Montreal (his failure ended up boosting the encampment). Oberman subsequently claimed Iran was driving the McGill student encampment.
Oberman, the self-described Zionist “wolf,” founded the post-October 7 Quebec Jewish Legal Alliance, which works closely with the Combined Jewish Appeal of Montréal. It is therefore not a leap to suspect that Oberman’s work is likely funded by a similar type of Israel lobby ‘lawfare’ fund.
According to an account about a recent election town hall, Oberman boasted about his authoritarianism. “We are going to take back our streets!”, he said. “Everywhere these activists are, they will be gone!”
Canada’s Conservative party leader celebrates Oberman’s subversion of rights enshrined in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Poilievre recently called Oberman “Doberman” in reference to the vicious dog, telling a Jewish Montreal audience that Oberman has launched “numerous of these injunctions to shut down antisemitic riots and he has stood up for the Jewish community against the violence and hatred that’s spilled onto our streets. And he should be sent to the House of Commons to continue to champion those values.”
Parliament needs an Israel cancel culture warrior!
To get a sense of his extremism, Oberman is running against ‘Israel first’ Liberal MP Anthony Housefather. He’s claiming Housefather is insufficiently devoted to that apartheid state. Oberman’s 19-year-old son lives in Israel, and being of age to be conscripted into the military, is likely in the IOF.
One of Oberman’s leading promoters is the mayor of the wealthy, exclusivist, largely Zionist municipality of Hampstead, Jeremy Levi. Fourteen months ago, Levi told me he was okay with Israel killing 100,000 Palestinian children killed because “good needs to prevail over evil.” Since then, Levi’s racism and promotion of violence have only become more flagrant. In the summer, Poilievre was photographed campaigning with Levi and Oberman.
Outside his recent town hall, Green Party of Quebec leader Alex Tyrrell asked Conservative deputy leader Melissa Lantsman if Canadians should be able to speak freely on Gaza. She replied, “Canadians can say whatever they want.” Subsequently, Tyrrell asked two women with Oberman shirts if someone should be jailed for speaking about Gaza. They replied, “In jail? No, of course not.” They were aghast when Tyrrell replied that Oberman had assisted in jailing me for criticizing a Zionist.
If the Conservatives support freedom of expression they need to dump Neil Oberman.
Please email Pierre Poilievre to stop Conservative candidate Neil Oberman’s attacks on free speech.
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